Mounting stack



Aug. 13, 1546. c. w. BAIIQBOUR, JR

MOUNTING STACK Filed July 20, 1944 FIG. 2

FIGQIO INVENTOR. CHARLES w. BARBOUR JR.

FIG. 9

Patented Aug. 13, 1946 MOUNTING STACK Charles W. Barbour, .Jr.,Marblehead, Mass, as

signor to Submarine Signal Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of MaineApplication July 20, 1944, Serial No. 545,848

7 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a device for mounting and supportelectrical elements such as small resistors and condensers, greatnumbers of which may frequently be used in electronic circuits.

It has been quite customary to permit the ordinary wire connectionsextending to the terminals of these elements to act as a support forthem and in common practice the ends of the electrical elements areusually soldered to the connecting wires and suspended in air orstrapped to the panel or insulating board. Such methods and means ofconnecting electrical elements are satisfactory in simple circuits wherethere are not too many parts and where the elements may be readilytraced.

.In complicated electronic apparatus, however, where the smallelectrical elements such as condensers and resistors may go up into thethousands, this means and method of mounting and supporting them becomepractically impossible. Not only does the wiring become confused so thatit is impossible to follow the supports, but

also there are apt to he-grounds or leakageof such a magnitude as tointerfere with the operation of the apparatus. In addition to this it ispractically impossible .to replace parts or to trace through supportreadily such as necessary in locating the cause of failure and inaddition to this the apparatus is not steady and reliable under suchstrenuous use as it may be put to particularly in time of war forelectronic apparatus used by the armed forces.

The present invention overcomes these difficulties in wiring andassembling electronic apparatus by providing means for holding in properelectrical connections a great number of elec trical elements neatly anduniformly arranged and marked so that they may be easily identified.Further, the assembly of the elements is such that any of them may bereadily removed and the others .put back in place without breaking anyof the leads or connecting elements except those which are removed. Inaddition to this it is possible to assemble a great many elementstogether, many more than could other wise be assembled .on the same sizepanel.

This type of assembly allows standardization of pig-tail lengths for allsmall electrical parts and permits the use of large quantity productionswith very simple tools. It is also possible to have mass assembly ofthestacks as a unit and thereby greatly simplify the manufacture of theequipment in which the stacks are being used. Replacement is alsosimplified. Further, since the parts are suspended 'away from a panel orsupport, it is possible to provide free air circulation, thus improvingthe power dissipation possibilities' of all parts.

The present invention for supporting the electrical elements maybemounted .on a panel board or in any suitable or desired fashion. .Themounting board or .panel may or may not be insulated since the mountingsupport or stack of the present invention insulates each connectingterminal for supporting the electrical elements from the other.

Without further describing the merits and advantages of the presentinvention, the invention will be described in the specification below inconnection with the drawing illustrating an embodiment of the same inwhich Fig. 1 shows the invention in elevation; Fig. 2 shows a top viewas viewed in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows an elevation of one section of themounting stack or support of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 shows a bottom view of Fig.3; Fig. 5 shows a top view of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 shows in elevation thelower two sections as viewed in Fig. 1; Fig. 7 shows a bottom view ofFig. 6; Fig. 8 shows a top view of Fig. 6; Fig. .9 shows a section takenon the line 99 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 10 shows a detail in plan of theelectrical connecting terminals used in the present invention.

In the drawing, I represents a support which may be a terminal panel orany kind of a supporting member .or bracket or even the inside of .acabinet on or in which the electrical support is mounted. Mounted onsuch a support are preferably two columns 2 and 3. These comprise agroup of separable sections 4, 4, 4, etc., which may be all alike inconstruction and two base sections .5, 5 which may also be alike butslightly different in structure from other sections. Different topsections 5, 6 may also be provided the reasons for which will becomeclear'from the specification below. The sections 4 are shown in Figs. 3,4 and 5. The outer wall of the section may be cylindrical, square or anyother desired shape. These sections are provided with a hole 7 axiallythrough the center with the top of the section recessed at t in theshape prefen ably of a regular polygon although some other shape may, ifdesired, be used. The lower end of the section 4 is formed with asmaller neck portion =53 providing a shoulder 4% extending inwardly fromthe outer surface of the section 4. The neck!) should have the sameshape as the recess 8 so that .successive sections will fit one into theother.

Between each section v t, 4 and i, .5 "there is supported a terminal orconnecting element l shown in Fig. 10. These terminal connectors may befiat and provided with a hole ll fittin over the neck 9. The end facesof the section also serve by bearing against the faces of the terminalIt to clamp the terminal connection firmly in place. Various types ofterminal connections may be provided. As indicated in the drawing thesemay be formed in clamping forked ends l2, l3 and [4 which may be facedin the manner indicated in Fig. 2 with the ends 13 facing toward eachother and the ends (2 and [4 extending out to the side. The terminal isalso provided with an extension piece extendingto the rear which maybear a label of a number or letter indicating the element in the wholestack. Identical terminals may be used in both columns 2 and 3; or asshown, the terminal ele- 1 ments 30 in the left-hand column 3 may have"-the extension piece bearing the label omitted. The columns 2 and 3 areassembled preferably by means of a center rod or stud l5 extendingthrough a top plate iii. The ends of the studs l5 may be threaded at thetop to receive the elastic'nuts l1, l1 and at the bottom to receivethese sunken nuts l8, [8. If the nuts are hexagonal, the recess is inthe element 5 (see Figs. 6, 7 and 8) should also be hexagonal with therecess 2|] in the upper portion of the element 5 octagonal to receivethe extending neck portion 9 of the element 4. The octagonal polygonused with the section pieces 4 is preferable since it permits thepositioning of the terminal connections in right angles and half rightangles on the supporting stacks.

In the assembly of the device each column is made up of a number ofsections 4 which are nested end to end with a terminal plate orconnector between each section or as many sections as is desired. Ifconnecting elements are large, then every other terminal plate may beomitted, spacing those terminal plates which are used twice theirdistance apart. After the column has been assembled, the rod is insertedafter the nut 18 has been adjusted to its proper place on the rod.

The column may then be placed on a supporting bracket IS with the studl5 extending upward through it, after which the nut i1 is tightened inplace to tighten the whole stack. Both columns 2 and 3 are assembled inthe same way. The terminals 13 may face each other inwardly or, ifdesired, for some reason they may be set at an angle to each othersimply by orienting the column in the direction desired. The whole unit,then, comprising the columns 2 and 3 with i the top supporting thebracket l6 may be mounted on the panel or board I through the clampingstuds l5 the ends of which may be sufficiently long to extend throughthe panel I and receive supporting nuts and washers 29 and 28,respectively.

The identification of the stack may be completely established by givingthe stack a number as, for instance, 24 which may be placed upon thesupporting bracket l6 and identifying each of the terminal elements IDwith the letters A, B, C etc., marked in either direction. If a uniformpractice is maintained for any one panel, the letter in the panel may beidentified without any mark on it. The sections 4 and 5 are made up ofinsulating elements but the rods l5, l5 may be metallic since they arewholly insulated by the sections which completely enclose the rods. Itwill be noted also, as has been men'- tioned above, that each terminalis insulated iii) from the next terminal. Electrical connections may bemade to the terminals in either side connecting prongs and theelectrical element or unit may be suspended between the inner terminalsl3. If desired, electrical connection may be made to the tab ends bymeans of soldering or in any other suitable manner. The unit as designedmay be built up with as many sections as desired and provides durableand uniform connecting means for the electrical elements employed. Theorderly arrangement provided by this type of connection permits easyinspection to see if connections are properly made and readysubstitutions for units which may be burnt out and also quick testingmeans because of the easy access to the elements.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. An electrical mounting stack comprising a pair of similar supportingcolumns each built up of insulating sections joined in mortise and tenonjoints with electrical terminal elements having sections with holesconforming in shape to the tenon and positioned between insulatingsections.

2. In an electrical mounting stack, a supporting column built up ofinsulating sections having end extensions and recesses forming mortiseand tenon joints, electrical terminal elements with flat sections havingholes adapted to fit over the tenon portion of the joint and lie betweenthe adjacent ends of the insulating section and means holding thesections in alignment and clampingthe terminals in place.

3. In an electrical mounting stack, a supporting column built up ofinsulating sections having at one end projetcing neck portions and atthe other end recesses adapted to receive such projecting neck portionsof the neck section, electrical connecting elements having holespermitting them to fit over said neck portions and adapted to be clampedbetween successive insulating sections, a rod extending through saidinsulating sections and means at the ends of the rod for clamping thesections together.

4. In an electrical mounting stack, a supporting column built up ofinsulating sections having end extensions and recesses forming mortiseand tenon joints, electrical terminal elements with flat sections havingholes adapted to fit over the tenon portion of the joint and lie betweenthe adjacent ends of the insulating section and means holding thesections in alignment and clamping the terminals in place, comprising arod extending through the center of said sections and provided withterminal nuts at the end thereof for clamping said sections together.

5. An electrical mounting stack comprising a pair of similar supportingcolumns each built up of insulating sections joined in mortise and tenonjoints with electrical terminal elements having sections with holesconforming in shape to the tenon and positioned between insulatingsections and means for clamping said sections together and supportingsaid columns on a mounting board;

6. In an electrical mounting stack a supporting column built up ofinsulating sections having a neck portion in the shape of a regularpolygon projecting from the end thereof and a similarly shaped recess atthe other end of the section of a size to receive the polygon shapedneck, said sections adapted to be aligned together and being providedwith a hole extending axially therethrough, a connecting terminalsupported between sections, a rod extending through said hole and havinga nut near one end thereof recessed in the end section, a clamping screwat the other end of the rod for clamping said sections together, saidrod extending :beyond said clamping sections and providing a clampingsupport for mounting the rod to a terminal board.

'7. An electrical mounting stack comprising a pair of similar supportingcolumns each built up of insulating sections joined in mortise and tenon

